As electronic waste (or e-waste) continues to pile up in landfills around the world, one Australian scientist may have a viable solution for this mounting environmental threat. According to Veena Sahajwalla, a materials scientist at the University of New South Wales, “we are all micro mine owners.” When considering the millions of electronic hardware devices we toss out each year, Sahajwalla’s proclamation becomes less of a hyperbole, and more literal fact. E-waste, it turns out, is choc full of valuable resources: a ton of cell phones, or about 6,000 individual devices, breaks down to about 130 kg of copper, […]